Editing Wuxia (section)

===Earlier precedents===
Even though the term "wuxia" as the name of a genre is a recent coinage, stories about xia date back more than 2,000 years. Wuxia stories have their roots in some early [[youxia]] tales from 300–200 BC. The [[Legalism (Chinese philosophy)|Legalist]] philosopher [[Han Fei]] spoke disparagingly of youxias in his book ''[[Han Feizi]]'' in the chapter ''On Five 'Maggot' Classes'' about five social classes in the [[Spring and Autumn period]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Han|first1=Fei|author-link1=Han Fei|title=韓非子 [Han Feizi]|edition=[Reproduced on Chinese Wikisource]|url=http://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E9%9F%93%E9%9D%9E%E5%AD%90/%E4%BA%94%E8%A0%B9|access-date=25 December 2014|language=zh|chapter=五蠹第四十九 [Chapter 49: Five 'Maggots']|quote=... 俠以武犯禁，而人主兼禮之，此所以亂也。夫離法者罪，而諸先生以文學取；犯禁者誅，而羣俠以私劍養。}}</ref> Some well-known stories include [[Zhuan Zhu]]'s assassination of [[King Liao of Wu]], and most notably, [[Jing Ke]]'s attempt on the life of the King of Qin (who later became [[Qin Shi Huang]]). In Volume 86 of the ''[[Records of the Grand Historian]]'' (''Shi Ji''), [[Sima Qian]] mentioned five notable assassins – Cao Mo, [[Zhuan Zhu]], [[Yu Rang]], Nie Zheng and Jing Ke – in the [[Warring States period]] who undertook tasks of conducting political assassinations of aristocrats and nobles.<ref name="Teo">{{cite book|last1=Teo|first1=Stephen|title=Chinese Martial Arts Cinema: The Wuxia Tradition|date=2009|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|location=Edinburgh|isbn=9780748632862}}</ref>{{rp|17–19}}<ref>{{cite book|last1=Sima|first1=Qian|author-link1=Sima Qian|title=Shi Ji [Records of the Grand Historian]|edition=[Reproduced on Chinese Wikisource]|url=http://zh.wikisource.org/zh-hant/%E5%8F%B2%E8%A8%98/%E5%8D%B7086#.E8.A9.95.E8.AB.96|access-date=25 December 2014|language=zh|chapter=卷八十六 刺客列傳 第二十六 [Volume 86: Biographies of Assassins]}}</ref> These assassins were known as ''cike'' (刺客; literally "stabbing guests"). They usually rendered their loyalties and services to feudal lords and nobles in return for rewards such as riches and women. In Volume 124 of the ''Shi Ji'', Sima Qian detailed several embryonic features of xia culture from his period. These popular phenomena were also documented in other historical records such as the ''[[Book of Han]]'' and the ''[[Book of the Later Han]]''.

Xiake stories made a turning point in the [[Tang dynasty]] (618–907) and returned in the form of ''chuanqi'' (傳奇; literally "legendary tales"). Stories from that era, such as ''[[Nie Yinniang]]'' (聶隱娘),<ref>{{cite web|title=唐人傳奇 – 聶隱娘 [Tang Dynasty Legends – Nie Yinniang]|url=http://edu.ocac.gov.tw/culture/chinese/cul_kungfu/c/2-1-21.htm|website=中華武俠文化網 [Chinese Wusia [sic] Knight-errant]|publisher=Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission Taiwan, Republic of China|access-date=25 December 2014|language=zh|archive-date=15 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015030837/http://edu.ocac.gov.tw/culture/chinese/cul_kungfu/c/2-1-21.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> ''[[Kunlun Nu|The Kunlun Slave]]'', ''[[Jing Shisanniang|Thirteenth Madame Jing]]'' (''荊十三娘''),<ref>{{cite book|last1=Sun|first1=Guangxian|author-link1=Sun Guangxian|title=北夢瑣言 [Beimeng Suoyan]|edition=[Reproduced on Chinese Wikisource]|url=http://zh.wikisource.org/zh-hant/%E5%8C%97%E5%A4%A2%E7%91%A3%E8%A8%80/%E5%8D%B7%E5%85%AB|access-date=25 December 2014|language=zh|chapter=卷八 [Chapter 8]|quote=進士趙中行家於溫州，以豪俠為事。至蘇州，旅止支山禪院。僧戶有一女商荊十三娘， ... 至期，荊氏以囊盛妓兼致妓之父母首歸於李。後與趙進士同入浙中，不知所止。}}</ref> ''[[Hongxian (assassin)|Red String]]'' (紅線)<ref>{{cite book|last1=Yuan|first1=Jiao|title=甘澤謠 [Gan Ze Yao]|edition=[Reproduced on Chinese Wikisource]|url=http://zh.wikisource.org/zh-hant/%E7%94%98%E6%BE%A4%E8%AC%A0#.E7.B4.85.E7.B7.9A|access-date=25 December 2014|language=zh|quote=紅線，潞州節度使薛嵩家青衣，善彈阮鹹，又通經史，嵩遣掌箋，表號曰「內記室」。 ... 歌畢，嵩不勝悲，紅線拜且泣，因偽醉離席，遂亡其所在。}}</ref> and ''[[Qiuran Ke|The Bearded Warrior]]'' (虬髯客),<ref>{{cite book|last1=Du|first1=Guangting|author-link1=Du Guangting|title=虯髯客傳 [Qiu Ran Ke Zhuan]|edition=[Reproduced on Chinese Wikisource]|language=zh|url=https://zh.wikisource.org/zh-hant/虯髯客傳}}</ref> served as prototypes for modern wuxia stories.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Liang|first1=Yusheng|author-link1=Liang Yusheng|title=筆花六照 [Bi Hua Liu Zhao]|date=February 2008|publisher=Guangxi Normal University Press|location=China|edition=revised|language=zh|quote=唐代著名的武俠小說有《紅線傳》、《虯髯客傳》、《劉無雙傳》、《崑崙奴傳》、《聶隱娘傳》，等等（空空兒、精精兒則是附在《聶隱娘傳》中）。}}</ref> They featured fantasies and isolated protagonists – usually loners – who performed daring heroic deeds. During the [[Song dynasty]] (960–1279), similar stories circulated in the ''[[huaben]]'', short works that were once thought to have served as prompt-books for ''[[shuochang]]'' (traditional Chinese storytelling).<ref name="Teo"/>{{rp|19–20}}<ref name="Liu">{{cite book|last1=Liu|first1=Damu|last2=Lau|first2=Shing-hon|last3=Leong|first3=Mo-Ling|title=A Study of the Hong Kong Swordplay Film (1945–1980)|date=1996|publisher=Urban Council of Hong Kong|location=Hong Kong|isbn=9627040517}}</ref>{{rp|47–48}}

The genre of the martial or military romance also developed during the Tang dynasty. In the [[Ming dynasty]] (1368–1644), [[Luo Guanzhong]] and [[Shi Nai'an]] wrote ''[[Romance of the Three Kingdoms]]'' and ''[[Water Margin]]'' respectively, which are among the [[Great Classical Novels]] of Chinese literature. The former is a romanticised historical retelling of the events in the late [[Eastern Han dynasty]] and the [[Three Kingdoms]] period, while the latter criticises the deplorable socio-economic status of the late Northern Song dynasty. ''Water Margin'' is often seen as the first full-length wuxia novel: the portrayal of the [[108 heroes]], and their code of honour and willingness to become outlaws rather than serve a corrupt government, played an influential role in the development of [[jianghu]] (Jianghu is the setting that wuxia stories inhabit. Literally meaning "rivers and lakes", Jianghu settings are fictionalized versions of China which focus on social underworlds and the marginalized figures which inhabit them."<ref>{{cite web | url=https://oberlin.digication.com/jianghu-national-identity-hong-kong-cinema/home | title=Jianghu & National Identity in Hong Kong Cinema – Wuxia & Jianghu }}</ref>) culture in later centuries. ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' is also seen as a possible early antecedent and contains classic close-combat descriptions that were later emulated by wuxia writers in their works<ref name="Teo"/>{{rp|20}}<ref name="Hamm">{{cite book|last1=Hamm|first1=John Christopher|title=Paper Swordsmen: Jin Yong and the Modern Chinese Martial Arts Novel|date=2006|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|location=Honolulu|isbn=082482895X|edition=Paperback}}</ref>{{rp|17, 263}}

In the [[Qing dynasty]] (1644–1911), further developments were the ''[[gong'an fiction|gong'an]]'' (公案; literally "public case") and related detective novels, where xia and other heroes, in collaboration with a judge or magistrate, solved crimes and battled injustice. The [[Bao Zheng|Justice Bao]] stories from ''Sanxia Wuyi'' (三俠五義; later extended and renamed to ''[[The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants|Qixia Wuyi]]'') and ''[[Xiaowuyi]]'' (小五義), incorporated much of social justice themes of later wuxia stories. Xiayi stories of chivalrous romance, which frequently featured female heroes and supernatural fighting abilities, also surfaced during the Qing dynasty. Novels such as ''[[Shi Gong'an Qiwen]]'' (施公案奇聞) and ''[[Ernü Yingxiong Zhuan]]'' (兒女英雄傳) have been cited as the clearest nascent wuxia novels.<ref name="Teo"/>{{rp|20–21}}<ref name="Hamm"/>{{rp|19}}

The term "wuxia" as a genre label itself first appeared at the end of the Qing dynasty, a [[calque]] of the Japanese "[[bukyō]]", a genre of oft-militaristic and [[bushido]]-influenced adventure fiction. The term was brought to China by writers such as [[Liang Qichao]] and students who hoped that China would modernise its military and place emphasis on martial virtues, and it quickly became entrenched as the term used to refer to xiayi and other predecessors of wuxia proper. In Japan, however, the term "bukyō" faded into obscurity.<ref name="Teo"/>{{rp|2–3}}<ref name="Hamm"/>{{rp|11, 262}}

Many wuxia works produced during the Ming and Qing dynasties were lost due to the governments' crackdown on and banning of such works.<ref name="HeroicCinema">{{cite web|url=http://www.heroic-cinema.com/eric/xia.html|title=An Introduction to the Wuxia Genre|publisher=Heroic-cinema.com|access-date=28 December 2013}}</ref> Wuxia works like ''Water Margin'' were deemed responsible for brewing anti-government sentiments, which led to rebellions in those eras.<ref>{{Cite web |last=陈卫星 |title=明清时期《水浒传》禁毁情况考论 – 国学网 |url=http://www.guoxue.com/?p=14929 |access-date=2023-03-01 |language=zh-CN}}</ref> The departure from mainstream literature also meant that patronage of this genre was limited to the masses and not to the literati, which led to the stifling of the development of the wuxia genre. Nonetheless, the wuxia genre remained enormously popular with the common people.<ref name="Liu"/>{{rp|49–50}}